An upper for a shoe generally provides a number of functionalities. In addition to providing the enclosure for receiving the foot, an upper may stabilize the foot during movements, protect the foot against the environment and, in case of certain sport shoes, even provides a surface specifically adapted to the needs of the athlete. For example, a soccer shoe may provide enhanced grip to allow a player to better control a ball. In another example, a rugby shoe may provide an upper with improved stiffness properties during a scrum.
Most of the functionalities of the upper require an increased stability of the foot inside the upper. One option to increase the stability of the foot is to provide uppers with tapes. Various uppers applied with tapes are known, for example from CN205162058U, U.S. Pat. No. 3,589,038A, FR2536964A1, CN1791338A, U.S. Pat. No. 6,083,185A, CA2417160C, CN105246362A. Further prior art in this regard is disclosed in GB1156907A, CA2776110A1, WO2014152202A1, U.S. Pat. No. 4,616,432A, US20120204448A1, U.S. Pat. No. 7,204,042B2 and U.S. Pat. No. 9,198,479B2.
EP 0960578B1 discloses a shoe using a molded bottom provided with a sole, a hollow point, a heel support, lateral edges and a series of slots or through openings into which straps provided with ordinary closing means, such as clips or Velcro inserts, that form the upper are inserted, wherein in the shoe is characterized in that the first slot or through opening is located, at least in a section, under the hollow point, while the last slot or through opening is located on the heel support; said straps are partially located above the hollow point and feature an overlapping arrangement, so that the foot is completely covered, from the hollow point to the neck.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,539,647B2 discloses an improved safety shoe for protecting a person's foot from harmful injury including a high impact resistant outer shell, an inner dense foam insert, a solid toe cap, a heel cup, an inner sole, an outer sole and a moisture dissipating material surrounding the dense foam insert. The outer shell includes a series of flexible interlocking sliding bands arranged surrounding the foot and folding under the foot between the outer sole and the inner sole.
GB 761,519 discloses a shoe upper of canvas, leather or other non-elastic material having a foot-receiving opening formed at the front by the inner edges of a relatively small panel and a strip, and at the sides and back by the inner edges of a U-shaped strip formed as an upward extension on a strip secured to the top edge of the upper to project inwards from the sides. The aforementioned parts are of knitted or woven fabric with transversely extending rubber threads, with thick rubber threads at the junctions of the parts.
However, the uppers of the prior art are neither lightweight nor adapted to provide an acceptable wearing comfort especially for sport applications. Typically, the upper fits either tightly but uncomfortable or comfortable but loose. In case of a sports shoe this may lead to a lack of control of the foot movements, for example when sprinting or performing rapid changes of directions.
Therefore, the underlying problem of the present invention is to at least partly overcome the above mentioned deficiencies.